Response patterns of cochlear nucleus neurons to excerpts from sustained vowels.

Abstract

Excerpts from sustained vowels as well as pure-tone bursts were used as input signals to the guinea pig's auditory nervous system. Single unit responses to these signals were recorded from the cochlear nucleus. The results indicated that a neuron's response pattern to a particular vowel was determined by the ratio of the vowel's spectral energy that fell within the excitatory and inhibitory areas of the neuron. Addition of energy in a neuron's inhibitory region resulted in major modifications in the response of the neuron to both vowels and sinusoidal inputs. Generally, the addition of inhibitory energy resulted in a “temporal sharpening” of the response pattern.